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Thursday, July 29, 2010

Anti-Vaxxers are at it again.

What is it with some people? These anti-vaccination people are as deceitful as creationists, quote-mining, lying and pretending that they are the ones promoting honest inquiry.New Scientist has an article about how the Australian Health Care Complaints Commission had to issue a warning about the misleading information being promoted by the Australian Vaccination Network. Apparently the AVN have been saying some rather absurd things, like measles is a "non-threatening illness" and "vaccines have never been tested". They try to give the impression that they just want parents to make informed decisions about whether to vaccinate their children, while simultaneously feeding them lies. The more that people speak out against their anti-science quackery the less people will be influenced by these charlatans. (hopefully)

5 comments:

I don't understand these people at all, sure there is a small risk of adverse side effects from vaccinations, but the advantages must surely outweigh these. Apparently the people more likely to reject conventional vaccinations are the more educated parents. Ridiculous.

I wouldn't say they are "the more educated parents". They may have a decent level of general education, and may even have a degree. But when it comes to medicine and especially preventative medicice (Vaccines), they know absolutely nothing, they're completely ignorant.

In regards to what anon said... yeh, the data seems to suggest that the parents that are refusing vaccinations for their children are generally more wealthy and at least middle to upper class. These are the ones that often pride themselves on being clever, and 'decided to learn more' about vaccinations.They have more time to waste, more money at their disposal... All of these things add up to more gullible 'educated' parents who think they are making a smart decision to not vaccinate.

And they are causing a huge rebound of conditions that had all but disappeared in the first world.

A bit off topic, but I thought it was cool. I had 2 MMR vaccines, in addition to my childhood MMR vaccines because apparently my immune system didn't produce the expected antibodies against the measles antigens. Sadly, I still wasn't immune! I was a bit worried, because if I am not immune to all the required diseases, then it is very hard for me to work in the hospital in the future. I went to the nurse to ask her about this and she said that the virologist said I had "special immunity" and that he would be very pleased to have my blood for his current research on cellular immunity. I now await the call from the virologist =D

I just think it's quite interesting that we can study weird people and organisms to better our understanding of science and medicine, and it's cool to be able to contribute if possible.